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Whatever Happened to the Metric System?

2014-08-05 Mathematics
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Release : 2014-08-05
Genre : Mathematics
Kind : eBook
Book Rating : 41X/5 ( reviews)

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Book Synopsis Whatever Happened to the Metric System? by : John Bemelmans Marciano

Download or read book Whatever Happened to the Metric System? written by John Bemelmans Marciano. This book was released on 2014-08-05. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The intriguing tale of why the United States has never adopted the metric system, and what that says about us. The American standard system of measurement is a unique and odd thing to behold with its esoteric, inconsistent standards: twelve inches in a foot, three feet in a yard, sixteen ounces in a pound, one hundred pennies to the dollar. For something as elemental as counting and estimating the world around us, it seems like a confusing tool to use. So how did we end up with it? Most of the rest of the world is on the metric system, and for a time in the 1970s America appeared ready to make the switch. Yet it never happened, and the reasons for that get to the root of who we think we are, just as the measurements are woven into the ways we think. John Marciano chronicles the origins of measurement systems, the kaleidoscopic array of standards throughout Europe and the thirteen American colonies, the combination of intellect and circumstance that resulted in the metric system's creation in France in the wake of the French Revolution, and America's stubborn adherence to the hybrid United States Customary System ever since. As much as it is a tale of quarters and tenths, it is a human drama, replete with great inventors, visionary presidents, obsessive activists, and science-loving technocrats. Anyone who reads this inquisitive, engaging story will never read Robert Frost's line “miles to go before I sleep” or eat a foot-long sub again without wondering, Whatever happened to the metric system?

Measuring America

2003-09-30 History
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Release : 2003-09-30
Genre : History
Kind : eBook
Book Rating : 597/5 ( reviews)

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Book Synopsis Measuring America by : Andro Linklater

Download or read book Measuring America written by Andro Linklater. This book was released on 2003-09-30. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In 1790, America was in enormous debt, having depleted what little money and supplies the country had during its victorious fight for independence. Before the nation's greatest asset, the land west of the Ohio River, could be sold it had to be measured out and mapped. And before that could be done, a uniform set of measurements had to be chosen for the new republic out of the morass of roughly 100,000 different units that were in use in daily life. Measuring America tells the fascinating story of how we ultimately gained the American Customary System—the last traditional system in the world—and how one man's surveying chain indelibly imprinted its dimensions on the land, on cities, and on our culture from coast to coast.

Conversion

2011-06-08 Business & Economics
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Release : 2011-06-08
Genre : Business & Economics
Kind : eBook
Book Rating : 20X/5 ( reviews)

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Book Synopsis Conversion by : Mark Ryski

Download or read book Conversion written by Mark Ryski. This book was released on 2011-06-08. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Retailers today are able to generate the critical customer information on traffic and conversion rates that turn from their traditional anecdotal reflections in Conversion Mark Ryski tells us all that we need to know to make that shift a reality. A true find for any retailer looking for dramatic improvements in business outcomes! Len Schlesinger President, Babson College former Vice Chairman and COO, Limited Brands A retail brand is built from the cumulative effects of its shoppers experiences over time, making learning from these experiences a strategic priority for retailers in order to drive business value. Converting customers into buyers is the first step in creating a sustained partnership that results in value for all. The strategies introduced in this book will help retailers of all sizes and categories convert their customers experiences into future buyers. Pat Conroy Vice Chairman, Deloitte LLP & Consumer Products Practice Leader Half the battle is finding the right things to measure for your business and industry. Ryski is right that conversion is a critical metric for retailers who care about revenue, profits, and growth. Thomas H. Davenport Presidents Distinguished Professor, Babson College & Author of Competing on Analytics and Analytics at Work

World in the Balance: The Historic Quest for an Absolute System of Measurement

2011-10-24 Science
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Release : 2011-10-24
Genre : Science
Kind : eBook
Book Rating : 040/5 ( reviews)

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Book Synopsis World in the Balance: The Historic Quest for an Absolute System of Measurement by : Robert P. Crease

Download or read book World in the Balance: The Historic Quest for an Absolute System of Measurement written by Robert P. Crease. This book was released on 2011-10-24. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The epic story of the invention of a global network of weights, scales, and instruments for measurement. Millions of transactions each day depend on a reliable network of weights and measures. This network has been called a greater invention than the steam engine, comparable only to the development of the printing press. Robert P. Crease traces the evolution of this international system from the use of flutes to measure distance in the dynasties of ancient China and figurines to weigh gold in West Africa to the creation of the French metric and British imperial systems. The former prevailed, with the United States one of three holdout nations. Into this captivating history Crease weaves stories of colorful individuals, including Thomas Jefferson, an advocate of the metric system, and American philosopher Charles S. Peirce, the first to tie the meter to the wavelength of light. Tracing the dynamic struggle for ultimate precision, World in the Balance demonstrates that measurement is both stranger and more integral to our lives than we ever suspected.

Smoot's Ear

2007-01-01 Mathematics
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Release : 2007-01-01
Genre : Mathematics
Kind : eBook
Book Rating : 927/5 ( reviews)

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Book Synopsis Smoot's Ear by : Robert Tavernor

Download or read book Smoot's Ear written by Robert Tavernor. This book was released on 2007-01-01. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Measures are the subject of this unusual book, in which Robert Tavernor offers a fascinating account of the various measuring systems human beings have devised over two millennia. He discusses measures in our own time - when space travel presents to humankind a direct encounter with the unfathomable measure of the universe.

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